kisma Johnson's blog: "Life science"

What's going on inside that head of yours? That's nobody's business, of course -- except, perhaps, for companies planning to roll out games and gadgets with supposed "brainwave-reading" capabilities. Among them is Sega Toys in Japan, which makes Brain Trainer, a portable electronic device with various mind-expanding exercises that retails for about $30. Last week Sega announced it will incorporate bio-signal-reading technology from San Jose-based startup NeuroSky into unspecified products. While NeuroSky's technology is available now, don't expect to find mind-reading toys or videogames at Toys 'R' Us just yet. That's because NeuroSky's technology is aimed at manufacturers and developers, and it will take awhile before products incorporating the technology reach the market. NeuroSky sells a systems-development kit incorporating a sensor that picks up bio-signals, which are processed into digital signals. A manufacturer can incorporate the sensor into a headset of its own design. The sensor is dry (read: no icky gels), and only one sensor is needed to pick up the signals. Sensors like NeuroSky's pick up physiological signals, not just brainwaves, so overblown claims of "reading your thoughts" should be taken with a grain of salt. And such sensors don't necessarily work equally well on every individual, something that becomes apparent when various people try to produce commands -- say, to move a robot forward. "I have noticed it's a little more challenging for some people than for others," says Ted Larson, a founder of OLogic, based in Los Altos Hills, California.

One well known theme of cult activity is that of apocalypse – that the world is about to come to an end. I’ve dealt with the most well known cases in Cult Suicides, but the ‘tradition’ is far more widespread. Sometimes the process can appear almost comical, rather than tragic, as we shall see. And we shall also attempt, here, to come to an understanding of what impulses may be behind this idea of mass destruction. Well, it isn’t exactly destruction. NOT AN END BUT A BEGINNING This is the essence of the End Times - not destruction per se, but renewal; the removal of problems in the world, to be replaced by Paradise. The Hebrews first devised such a concept in the 6th century BC, when they were first exiled from their Promised Land. They developed the idea of a Messiah, or Saviour, who would come to save them. To Christians, Jesus was this person, but when his death didn’t provide Paradise, the idea of the Second Coming of Christ was born. Many End Times predictions have been made, one of the earliest being that of 12th century Bishop of Armagh, St Malachy. On a visit to Jerusalem he had a vision in which he saw all 112 popes from 1143 to the Second Coming. To put this in perspective, following the death of John Paul II, there are only a couple left before the end of the world. NOSTRADAMUS AND ASTROLOGY French ‘seer’ Nostradamus made a famous prediction - supposedly - which clearly didn’t come true. He wrote of the end of the world in the year 1999 and seven months However, Nostradamus wrote many of his predictions in astrological terms. The use of the number ‘seven’ is deeply mystical - at the time, seven ‘planets’ formed the astrological clock. As for the year 1999, this is a final year symbolically - of an astrological cycle. The history of the world does, infact, revolve in 2,000 year astrological cycles. Six thousand years ago we were in the cycle of Taurus, represented by the Bull. Civilisations of the time were known to venerate bull cults as their major deities. The Bull finally came to a sticky end when the Bull-god Minotaur was destroyed in the labyrinth of ancient Knossos on Crete, signalling the rise of the cycle of Aries. The popular deity of the time was the Ram, remembered today as the goat-headed symbol of the Devil. The Ram became the Devil as we entered the cycle of Pisces 2,000 years ago, and Christianity replaced the previous pagan deities. Pisces is represented by the fish, which is also the symbol of Jesus. With the year 2000 we entered a new cycle of Aquarius. THIRD SECRET OF FATIMA Another famous prediction is the Third Secret of Fatima, known only to the pope. In 1917 three children witnessed a globe of light that spoke with a woman’s voice near Fatima Portugal. Venerated as the lady of the rosary, she supposedly gave the children secrets of the world. One of the children, Lucia, became famous and claimed to have further visions, finally writing the Third Secret in 1943. Popes who have read it are appalled by our future. However, it is interesting that both the vision and final ‘secret’ happened at crucial times in both world wars. Prediction? Or an expression of fears for the future? MILLERITES Some prophets have taken action concerning Apocalypse in the past without violence or suicide. Massachusetts farmer, William Miller - born in 1782 - became convinced that the Book of Daniel predicted the Second Coming between March 1843-44. In the 1830s he began preaching, gaining a following of thousands. As the date arrived, thousands gathered to be taken up to heaven in the rapture. When it didn’t come, he recalculated, and again thousands gathered. Failing once more, many of them went hungry after getting rid of their belongings or ignoring their farms. Remnants of the Millerites did, however, form the later Seventh Day Adventist movement. ELSPETH BUCHAN A previous episode had occurred in the UK. Elspeth Buchan was a Scottish preacher in the Tayside area during the late 18th century. Teaming up with the Rev Hugh Whyte, he preached God would make himself known to Miss Buchan, and any followers would be taken up to Heaven without having to die. Gaining a large following, on the appointed day the Buchanites cut their hair, leaving only a tuft by which to be caught up, and assembled on a hill. Miss Buchan waited amongst them, on a raised platform. However, instead of going up to heaven, the platform collapsed. By the time of her death in 1791, she told followers that she may seem to die, but would really be going to heaven to prepare the way for them, returning in six months time. Despite her failure to attend, Buchanites continued to exist for fifty years. CARGO CULTS A related phenomenon broke out on a number of South Sea islands. In 1871 a Russian Count arrived on a Melanesian island in the Pacific and gave western gifts to the inhabitants to pacify them. Soon, he was being treated as a god, and the strange phenomenon of the Cargo Cult had begun in the region. As westerners arrived on the islands, the natives took more gifts; a process increased as Christian missionaries arrived. So besotted were they that when a US base appeared in 1940 on Tanna, locals improvised uniforms and spoke into empty tins, mimicking radio communication. A definite morality arose in which foreigners who gave gifts were good, whilst those who didn’t were evil. However, it was all for a cause. They believed that such gifts and adoration would increase their lot. When this failed to happen, disaffection broke out, and the islanders realised western presence was wrong. At this point, hopes of a Messiah they called Jonfrum arose, who would sweep away the invaders. A distinct form of liberation theology, his name came from the hope of the arrival of ‘John from America’, who would give all western possessions to them and take the westerners away. IN CONCLUSION We can see, in the Cargo Cults, the entire process in microcosm. A culture develops of a form of ‘outside’ spirituality which guides, but also offers a form of salvation. For a time, the hope of salvation satisfies, but eventually people begin to ask when this salvation will actually come. And when it doesn’t, questioning begins, and within this questioning the idea of a ‘Messiah’ arises who will take the people out of their present society and provide a new ‘paradise’. It is in this process that extreme cult activity can be the result, not so much of a form of death, but of transition. By Anthony North, December 2007

Don't be a victim of the fuel surcharge scam. Have you used any of the following airlines to fly between California and the Pacific Rim (including flights that connected in CA) between 2004 and 2007: Click here for a definition of the Pacific Rim region United Airlines Air New Zealand All Nippon Airways Cathay Pacific Airways EVA Airways Japan Airlines International Malaysia Airlines Northwest Airlines Quantas Airways Singapore Airlines Thai Airways If you did, you may have been a victim of the Fuel Surcharge scam by certain airlines to fix prices on airline tickets to and from the United States. More information: http://www.hyppoi.com/fuel/ If, between January 2004 and August 2007, you purchased tickets for passenger air transportations on any of the above air carriers, a "fuel surcharge" may have been added to the price of your ticket. Not only may the extra charge have been disproportionate to the actual cost of the fuel, but may also have been the result of an alleged illegal agreement between the airlines to act together to fix prices, and to artificially inflate the cost of passenger tickets.

A Swinburne astrophysicist has leapt another hurdle in the path to proving that our fundamental theories of physics are not what they seem. Dr Michael Murphy is part of a team that has, over recent years, uncovered surprising and controversial evidence suggesting the laws of physics may have been changing through cosmic time. In this latest move, Murphy has debunked a study which claimed to disprove his findings. Murphy’s research into the laws of Nature goes back eight years, and concerns our understanding of electromagnetism, the force of nature that determines the sounds we hear, the light we see, and how atoms are held together to form solids. Through the study of electromagnetism in galaxies ten billion light years away, he has challenged the fundamental assumption that the strength of electromagnetism has been constant through time. “Back in 2001 we published evidence showing a small change in the fine structure constant, the number that physicists use to characterise the strength of electromagnetism,” Murphy said. “Even though the change that we think we see in the data is quite small, about five parts in a million, it would be enough to demonstrate that our current understanding must in fact be wrong. It’s an important discovery if correct. It suggests to physicists that there’s an underlying set of theories we’re yet to broach and understand.” Physicists have been chasing results like these for a number of years, but since 1999, Murphy and his co-researchers have been ahead of the pack. They’ve published a series of observations from the Keck Telescope in Hawaii as further evidence of a varying fine structure constant. But, a few years ago, another research team claimed that data from a different telescope contradicted Murphy’s observations. However, he’s been able to prove that the contradictory work itself was flawed. “We’ve shown that the way the data was analysed was faulty,” he said. “Their procedures were faulty so the numbers that came out are meaningless. Our paper points this out. When you replicate their analysis and fix their problems, you get a very very different answer indeed.” Murphy has a ‘comment’ about this latest work in this week's issue of the journal Physical Review Letters. It’s the most difficult journal for physicists to get published in, and is the one they turn to for important results in their field. This latest step is not the end of the road though in convincing scientists across the world that they need to rethink their ideas about electromagnetism. Even though this study also produced results that agree with his initial Keck findings, Murphy said there’s still work to be done. “There are some problems that need addressing,” he said. “It’s quite a surprising result and one that probably many people need a lot more convincing on. It will take some time, but we’re doing that job.”

NASA says its Mars rover Spirit has discovered "the best evidence yet" of a past habitable environment on the planet's surface. Spirit has been exploring a plateau called Home Plate, where it discovered silica-rich soil in May. Researchers are now trying to determine what produced the patch of nearly pure silica - the main ingredient of window glass. They believe the deposits came from an ancient hot-spring environment or an environment called a fumarole, in which acidic steam rises through cracks. On Earth, both of these types of settings teem with microbial life, said rover chief scientist Steve Squyres. "Whichever of those conditions produced it, this concentration of silica is probably the most significant discovery by Spirit for revealing a habitable niche that existed on Mars in the past," he said. "The evidence is pointing most strongly toward fumarolic conditions, like you might see in Hawaii and in Iceland. "Compared with deposits formed at hot springs, we know less about how well fumarolic deposits can preserve microbial fossils. That's something needing more study here on Earth." Spirit and its twin rover Opportunity have remained on Mars for much longer than originally planned. Their mission has been extended five times since they landed on opposite sides of the planet in January 2004. But the rovers faced their biggest challenge yet this summer, when a series of dust devils blanketed their solar panels and limited their movement. Winds managed to clean off Opportunity, but Spirit is still covered in gunk and working at 42 per cent capacity.

The 16 big flasks of bubbling bright green liquids in Roger Ruan’s laboratory at the University of Minnesota are part of a new boom in renewable energy research. Driven by renewed investment as oil prices push $100 a barrel, Dr. Ruan and scores of scientists around the world are racing to turn algae into a commercially viable energy source.Some algae is as much as 50 percent oil that can be converted into biodiesel or jet fuel. The biggest challenge is cutting the cost of production, which by one Defense Department estimate is running more than $20 a gallon.“If you can get algae oils down below $2 a gallon, then you’ll be where you need to be,” said Jennifer Holmgren, director of the renewable fuels unit of UOP, an energy subsidiary of Honeywell International. “And there’s a lot of people who think you can.” Researchers are trying to figure out how to grow enough of the right strains of algae and how to extract the oil most efficiently. Over the past two years they have received more money from governments, the Pentagon, big oil companies, utilities and venture capital firms.The federal government halted its main algae research program nearly a decade ago, but technology has advanced and oil prices have climbed since then, and an Energy Department laboratory announced in late October that it was partnering with Chevron, the second-largest American oil company, in the hunt for better strains of algae.“It’s not backyard inventors at this point at all,” said George Douglas, a spokesman for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, an arm of the Energy Department. “It’s folks with experience to move it forward.”A New Zealand company demonstrated a Range Rover powered by an algae biodiesel blend last year, but experts say algae will not be commercially viable for many years. Dr. Ruan said demonstration plants could be built within a few years.Converting algae oil into biodiesel uses the same process that turns vegetable oils into biodiesel.

Scientists have reversed the effects of ageing on the skin of mice by blocking the action of a specific protein. In two-year old mice, Californian researchers found that they could rejuvenate skin to look more youthful. Further analysis published in the journal Genes and Development showed the skin had the same genetic profile as the skin of newborn mice. The team said the research would most likely lead to treatments to improve healing in older human patients. They stressed it was unlikely to be a potential "fountain of youth" but could help older people heal as quickly from injury as they did when they were younger. The protein in question - NF-kappa-B - is thought to play a role in numerous aspects of ageing. It acts as a regulator, causing a wide range of other genes to be more or less active. Lead researcher, Dr Howard Chang, from the Stanford School of Medicine in California, said the findings supported the theory that ageing is the result of specific genetic changes rather than accumulated wear and tear. And that it is possible to reverse those genetic changes later in life. Regulation: Previous studies have identified several genes which play a part in the ageing process. Dr Chang and colleagues spotted that the one thing the genes had in common was that they were regulated by NF-kappa-B, which can either make them more or less active. By blocking the protein in older mice for two weeks, they found the skin was thicker and more cells appeared to be dividing, much like the skin of a younger mouse. And the same genes were active as in the skin of newborn mice. It is unclear whether the effects are long-lasting and the protein has also been implicated in cancer and regulation of the immune system. "We found a pretty striking reversal to that of the young skin," Dr Chang said. But he added any application in humans was likely to be on a short-term basis because of other effects of blocking the protein.

Fashion always keeps at least one eye on the future. Now scientists are lending a hand, developing tomorrow's super-powered clothing such as garments that can recharge your MP3 player and exoskeletons that enhance strength. For instance, electronics could get recharged in the future simply by plugging them into your outerwear, because Australian researchers are designing clothing that can harvest energy from a person. The garments would incorporate devices to convert vibration energy from a person's movements into electricity. Advanced conductive fabrics would carry this energy to flexible batteries. "It will look like an ordinary garment but have extraordinary capabilities," said Adam Best, principal research scientist with Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization's energy technology division. CSIRO scientists announced US$4 million in funds for such research Oct. 17. "This kind of technology has important applications for soldiers in the field and could mean they no longer need to carry heavy batteries," Best added. "Essentially, they'd be wearing the battery, not carrying it." Besides helping soldiers, these garments could also have civilian applications, such as powering radios, mobile phones, MP3 players or medical devices such as vital-sign monitoring systems. Solar-powered handbags could accomplish the same thing. Underwear and sports uniforms could go weeks without washing thanks to self-cleaning fabrics developed by scientists working for the U.S. Air Force. The new technology attaches particles just nanometer or billionths of a meter wide to fibers using microwaves. These nanoparticles repel water, oil and bacteria. Advanced materials could also help serve as armor. For instance, future yarns made with carbon nanofibers could yield bulletproof uniforms stronger than Kevlar, and complex compounds could lead to soft helmets that turn hard in a crash. Not all the potential fabrics of tomorrow are necessarily high-tech.

At the age of six months, most babies have barely learnt to sit up, let alone crawl, walk or talk. But, according to new research, they can already assess someone's intentions towards them, deciding who is a likely friend or enemy. US scientists believe babies acquire the ability to make social evaluations in the first few months of life. It may provide the foundation for moral thoughts and actions in later years, they write in the journal Nature. "By six months, babies have learnt quite a lot and they are taking things in," said Kiley Hamlin, lead author of the research. "We can't say that it is hard-wired (exists in a newborn baby) but we can say it is pre-linguistic and pre-explicit teaching," she told BBC News. "We don't think this says that babies have any morality but it does seem an essential piece of morality to feel positive about those who do good things and negative about those who do bad things - it seems like an important piece of a later more rational and moral system." Infant lab tests: Like all social creatures, humans are able to make rapid judgements of other people based on how they behave towards others. But the roots of this behaviour and when it develops are not well understood. The experiment Kiley Hamlin and colleagues at Yale University devised experiments to test whether babies aged six and 10 months were able to evaluate the behaviour of others. They used wooden toys of different shapes that were designed to appeal to babies. The babies were sat on their parents' laps and shown a display representing a character trying to climb a hill. The climbing character, which had eyes to make it human-like, was either knocked down the hill by an unhelpful character (a toy of a different shape and colour) or pushed up the hill by a helper cartoon figure (another shape and colour). After watching the "puppet show" several times, each baby was presented with the helper and hinderer toys and asked to pick one.

More sightings of a huge flying creature, originally reported by KENS, have prompted an investigation to determine if it is a monster or myth. "Even though it was dark, the thing itself was black. The blackest I'd ever seen," said Frank Ramirez. Years ago, Ramirez thought he was after a prowler in the back of his mother's Southwest Side home. But what greeted him on the garage rooftop still gives him goosebumps now. "That's when the thing up there turned to me, and it was in a perched state, and it started to turn," he said. "It started to move its arms and this giant blackness was just coming out. At that point, I dropped the stick and I ran." Ramirez sketched a drawing of the large, bird-like creature. The image is disturbing, and similar to dozens of sightings across San Antonio and South Texas. "If you were to take a man's face and pull his chin down, just like a stretched face," said Ramirez "I was just terrified and as I was running. I just thought it was going to carry me off or something." An earlier KENS story about a large, prehistoric-like bird drew more than 100,000 hits on MySanAntonio.com. More than a few people in San Antonio came forward to say they'd seen the creature, too. One woman contacted KENS by e-mail, saying that because of our story, she now knows she's not crazy. KENS caught up with cryptozoologist Ken Gerhard at the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge. Gerhard recently wrote a book, called "Modern Sightings of Flying Monsters" on the large, dark birds. "When investigating mystery animals, it's important to point out that there are vast areas of land, even here in South Texas, that remain uninhabited," said Gerhard. "If an animal like big bird does exist, it certainly needs some habitat, somewhere to hide." The Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge has 88,000 acres, and the marshes and prairies are home to 413 species of birds, but no flying pterodactyls. "Raptors of all kinds, from hawks to falcons, come throughout. Our most common is the Harris Hawk, " said Park Ranger Stacy Sanchez. But even Sanchez admits that blogs spiked with reports this summer of something. "People were posting about a very large, raptor-like bird, and they were talking about an 18-to-20-foot wingspan. I don't know ... It's kind of a myth," said Sanchez. Critics say where's the proof? Eyewitness testimony without a feather or other body of evidence leaves these stories as they are — just stories. "We know that it's rare, and we know that this area's been pretty popular hangout in the past," said Gerhard. Gerhard has been installing cameras in Harlingen, where Guadalupe Cantu wants his big bird sighting documented and validated. Back in San Antonio, Ramirez has mounted an outdoor light to keep the creature at bay. "I know what I saw. It took me more than a week to step out of this house. I wouldn't step foot out of this house," said Ramirez. "It had this very, very horrible demeanor-look on its face. Like I was lunch," he said. On Nov. 21, Gerhard will be featured in a History Channel documentary called "Birdzilla."